California Woman Dies After Nurse Refuses To Do CPR

…a police dispatcher first fielded the call from the facility last week saying that a woman had collapsed in the dining room. Police immediately routed it to the fire department for emergency services, Beard said. But when a second dispatcher pleaded with a nurse at the facility to perform CPR on the resident, she refused…

The facility, Glenwood Gardens, defended its nurse, saying she had followed policy in dealing with the 87-year-old woman.

At the beginning of the Feb. 26 call, the nurse asked for paramedics to come and help the woman who had collapsed and was barely breathing, according to a transcript of the call.

Dispatcher Tracey Halvorson urged the nurse to start CPR.

“I understand if your boss is telling you, you can’t do it,” the dispatcher said. “But … as a human being … you know, is there anybody that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?”